Governor Tours Areas Hit By Floods Lowry Visits Produce Warehouse, Ywca, Tavern

In what probably will be his last official trip to Spokane, Gov. Mike Lowry on Friday visited flood-damaged neighborhoods and businesses, offering what help he can in his last 13 days in office.

“It’s important that people understand that we have the resources to handle this,” said Lowry, who leaves office Jan. 15. “The state budget’s in good shape. The federal government has been very helpful.”

Sporting hiking boots and a Washington State University baseball cap, Lowry chatted sympathetically with flood victims from the West Plains to Rockford. It was his second day of visiting soggy areas on both sides of the Cascades.

At Spokane Produce, Lowry stood in a warehouse ripe with the smell of ruined mushrooms, oranges, tomatoes and other fruit and vegetables.

Water inside the warehouse rose to four feet deep when a creek normally small enough to cross in a single stride swelled with runoff, said co-owner Craig Higashi.

“It’s major,” Higashi said, when asked to put a price on the damage.

At the downtown YWCA, staff showed Lowry classrooms that were damaged when melting snow seeped through the roof, causing a ceiling to collapse. The roof of the former brewery has been patched so many times, it won’t last much longer, said Executive Director Monica Walters.

“We’re concerned that the insurance won’t cover the whole cost” of repairs, Walters told Lowry. “If they don’t, we will definitely need some money.”

In Rockford, Lowry heard how the town pulled together to help businesses like Fredneck’s Bar & Grill.

On Wednesday, water was deep enough to cover the keyboard of the tavern’s piano. Most of the mud was gone by Friday, thanks largely to volunteers.

“That’s the real story,” said owner Fred Abbey.

The governor was impressed.

“I’ve been in taverns that didn’t look this good, and they were open,” he said, laughing.

Business owners greeted the governor eagerly.

“It’s good that he came,” said Ron Roche, who lost a Rockford store full of video tapes and sports trading cards. “He needs to take this information back with him.”

At each stop, Lowry told people to document their losses, and report them to the county Department of Emergency Management, which is coordinating flood relief.

“Be sure and put that on the list,” he told a Rockford resident who said the town lost its Little League equipment.

Among the federal agencies that may be able to help, Lowry said, are the Small Business Administration, the Transportation Department and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Seeing the damage will help him express the urgency of getting federal help when he speaks with Clinton Cabinet members, Lowry said.

Lowry stopped briefly for a cheeseburger and fries at Rockford’s Harvest Moon Restaurant before the Washington State Patrol whisked him back to Spokane International Airport and a flight to Yakima.

He missed out on a side trip to his native Whitman County due to a brief, heavy snow storm at the Pullman airport.

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